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{subhead} phase 5 Announce Cyberstorm G3/G4{def}
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[In a follow up to the following announcement, phase 5 have said the card
will also have 40MB/s UltraWide SCSI!  Also, check the next article - phase 5
have enough orders to go ahead and are increasing the product range]
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Oberursel, March 19, 1999
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Once again phase 5 digital products is happy to announce a groundbreaking
new development, which will represent an extract of phase 5's leading-edge
technologies and the many years of expertise in designing upgrade products
for Amiga computers. After a long time of evaluating the market, we have
decided to support the existing Amiga user base and the new developments at
Amiga Inc. with a next generation product, which will offer highest
performance, future compatibility and a bridge to industry standards. This
product will be a powerful PPC accelerator for A3000/A4000 systems (and
other Amiga systems expanded with an A4000 compatible CPU slot) and the
upcoming Amiga OS 3.5, as well as future versions of the Amiga OS.
{p} {p}
The new accelerator, the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} board, is a pure
PowerPC-based processor card. It will ship with a fast PowerPC750 or
PowerPC7400 (G4 with Altivec), which is installed in a ZIF socket. This ZIF
socket is fully compliant with the Interposer standard from IBM and
Motorola, which is also used in PowerMacs and other systems, what will allow
easy upgrading, if required by the user in the future. In the base version
with a 400MHz PowerPC750 processor and 1MB backside Cache @ 200MHz, the
{bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} will provide an impressing peak performance
of up to 19.2 SPECint95 and 13.1 SPECfp95 (source: IBM website 03/18/99). In
real-world applications, this allows incredible application performance,
which is estimated to reach 15 -20 times the performance of a 50MHz 68060
processor (with native PowerPC coded or PowerPC optimized applications). The
{bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} will use standard SDRAM running at 100MHz,
providing a peak memory transfer rate of 582 MB/s, and has two DIMM sockets
which will support up to 1 GB main memory. An on-board PCI 2.1 interface
will allow the connection of all kind of industry standard devices and
cards. The on-board Flash ROM with 512kB size can be used to install
software necessary for system-startup and other functionalities. By default,
this Flash ROM will only contain a basic boot-strap functionality (hardware
write protected) which will allow to install any kind of system software
from disks; this functionality will be fully documented and freely available
to everybody.
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By it's design concept, the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} is the perfect
solution for running native PowerPC coded Operating Systems as well as
emulated 68k OS segments. As a processor card which fits into the A4000
compatible fast slot, it allows to run 100% native PowerPC code, and has
full access to all system hardware functionalities and interrupts which is
not the case with add-ons that are not installed in the fast slot, but e.g.
in a Zorro slot. With it's ability to be the master system CPU, the PowerPC
on the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} does not need an additional 68k
processor which is the case in other designs. Beside the technical
advantages of this approach, it offers the user the opportunity to e.g sell
an existing 68060 processor card in the second-hand market, thus lowering
the cost of the upgrade to the PowerPC G3/G4 generation.
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phase 5 digital products will NOT built or deliver any software or hardware
add-ons for the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold}. The {bold}CYBERSTORM
G3/G4{nobold} will be open to third party developers in a wide
way:
{p} {p}
 Software support will be realized with the new developments from Amiga Inc.
 and Haage&Partner, especially with the upcoming Amiga OS3.5 with PowerPC
 support, and upcoming 68k emulator products. Additionally, the
 {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} is perfectly suited for the implementation
 of other Operating Systems such as Linux, which have already been realized
 on earlier PowerUp boards.
{p} {p}
 For hardware add-ons, the implemented PCI 2.1 interface will allow
 third-party vendors to design PCI bus backplanes, and write drivers for any
 common PCI card on the market. The interface is implemented as a single
 connector, to which other vendors can connects e.g. PCI cards or PCI
 backplanes, or design a physical link to PCI slots on bus expansion boards.
{p} {p}
However, due to the current market status, we can only justify the
realization of this project with a significant number of preorders. We will
therefore have to collect a total of 1,000 orders from customers (end users,
dealers, or distributors). For each of these orders, we will also ask for a
down-payment of DM 250, which will be collected on a notary account and will
only be made available to us at the time we deliver the {bold}CYBERSTORM
G3/G4{nobold} product to the customers. This gives security to all customers
who want to support this exiting new project and get stunning G3/G4
performance for their Amiga, and will give security to us when we make the
necessary investments.
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{bold}What will be the cost of this product, and are benefits there benefits
for preordering?{nobold}
{p} {p}
The regular list price for the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold}, including
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 the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} mainboard with an Interposer ZIF socket
 for G3/G4 processor modules, 2 SDRAM DIMM sockets for up to 1 GB memory,
 512 kB Flash ROM for system software (system software not provided with the
 board), a fully implemented PCI 2.1 interface with one connector (for PCI
 backplanes provided by third party vendors)
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 one G3 CPU module, with a PowerPC750 processor with 400MHz and one Megabyte
 Backside Cache with 200MHz clock rate<BR>
{p} {p}
will be DM 1,995 plus local taxes (in Germany: DM 2.299,- incl. MwSt). This
price is based on the current price projections for components and parts for
the 3rd quarter 1999, and will be updated whenever major components such as
the CPUs fall in price.
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A price for a {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} model with the new XPC7400 (G4
with Altivec) processor is not yet determined, and will depend on the
pricing of these new processors. As soon as we have these pricings, we will
determine a list price for this product.
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For those Amigans who are ready to support this major technological step
forward by placing one of the necessary preorders, we offer a special
benefit: Customers who are ready to order this board in advance, at the
conditions mentioned herein, will get this stunning product for a special
discounted preorder price of DM 1,750 plus local taxes, including world-wide
free delivery by economy postal service. And even more: If the regular list
price drops before the preordered {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} boards
start to ship, the discounted preorder price will be reduced by the same
amount.
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{bold}How will the whole project proceed, and be finalized?{nobold}
{p} {p}
First of all, we will now be looking forward to the response of the Amiga
community to this project. The basic concepts of the {bold}CYBERSTORM
G3/G4{nobold}, as well as major parts of the design (such as the SDRAM
controller and the PCI bridge) have been developed at phase 5 digital
products during the past year, as building blocks of other projects that we
are working on; in other words, most of the product is already "in the
drawer". From the day we can make the decision to start the project
finalization, we estimate roughly four months until the product can be
shipped to the customers. Therefore, the shipping date will largely depend
on the time which we need to collect the preorders.
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The project has four stages:
{p} {p}
 {bold}Announcement and preorder phase.{nobold}
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 We now collect preorders from customers all over the world. Please only
 place a preorder - which is not yet legally binding - if you are really
 ready to buy the CYBERSTORM G3/G4, and if you are ready to later pay the
 prepayment. If many users place preorders now, but then cancel or refuse to
 prepay, this will hurt the project flow significantly. If you are not
 definitely interested in this stunning new technology, please don't place
 an order.
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{bold}Notification phase.{nobold}
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 Once we have received the necessary 1,000 preorders - the sooner, the
 better, of course - we will open the notary account, and send notifications
 to all customers which will include a proforma invoice and the terms of the
 contract, as well as information about the usage of the prepayments. At the
 same time, we will also release updated product information and updated
 pricing, if available. All customers will be asked to pay the prepayment
 with 3 weeks to the notary account.
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 Important: The prepaid amounts will not become available to phase 5 digital
 products before we actually ship the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} boards
 to the customers who have ordered. If we fail to deliver the product within
 a certain time from date of notification, the prepaid money will be
 reimbursed. The prepaid money will not be reimbursed if the customer
 cancels his order for any reason.
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{bold}Development phase{nobold}
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 Design finalization and vericification, including rapid prototyping and
 full in-system test will require appx. 3 months. During this time, we will
 also work in close contact with other developers, and support software
 development on the new boards.
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{bold}Release & Shipment{nobold}
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 Once the {bold}CYBERSTORM G3/G4{nobold} is released for production, we will
 go into the assembly, and start to fullfill the preorders. The first boards
 will ship appx. 4 weeks after the start of the production. We will fullfill
 the preorders in the order we have received them. After the preorders are
 fullfilled, we will decide if we continue to built {bold}CYBERSTORM
 G3/G4{nobold} boards for the regular market, what will depend on the market
 situation and the demand forecasts at this time.
{p} {p}
If you want to take part in this stunning new development for the AMIGA,
which finally will bring the latest G3/G4 technology to the AMIGA and
support the new developments by AMIGA Inc. and their partners, then go ahead
and {bold}PLACE YOUR CYBERSTORM G3/G4 PREORDER NOW!{nobold}
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{link http://www.phase5.de/amiga/csg3g4e.html}http://www.phase5.de/amiga/csg3g4e.html{end}